The Lost Boy by Greg Ruth

[katekintailbc]

The Lost Boy
by Greg Ruth

The main character in this book is quite young, so I can see why it was classified as JFIC for children, but it was pretty dark at times and dealt with some scary concepts. I chose this from the library because the illustrations were gorgeous. I liked the concept as well--a young boy finds a recording from a boy who used to live in his house a generation ago and went missing. The recording reveals that there's more going on in the town... that more involving magic and creatures...ceramic-headed dolls who talk and little grasshoppers who ride dogs, trees that reach out to you and something dark and scary that wants a key. Nate makes friends with some of them... and enemies of others. And when they go through the forest to confront the gathering force, they find out some pretty shocking truths.

I really loved the illustrations and the urban fantasy aspects. Tom Button was a lovely guy but kind of freaked me out a bit. I loved the darker aspects of the story. A fun (and scary) story.